By LARRY HYPES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
RICHLANDS, Va. — One step from state.
Cold, hard, determined second half basketball brought Tazewell back from a big early deficit and the Bulldogs were able to hold off a determined Richlands team 81-74 Tuesday in Region IV Division 3 quarterfinal play.
Tazewell (12-12) will play Abingdon tonight at Marion at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to the Group AA, Division 3 state tournament.
The Bulldogs’ win overshadowed a sensational shooting display by the Blues’ Ben Brown, who poured in 30 points to take game scoring honors for Richlands (10-15) which ended its season.
Devon Johnson, held in check for most of the first half by Mikal Moore, came back and scored 21 with Gabe Hunsaker adding 14 for the Blues.
Four Bulldogs, including Blake Hash (20), John Walker (18), Jalen Jordan (15), and Noah Walker (14) hit double digits.
Once again, the Blue Tornado broke fast, jumping in front 11-3 in the first five minutes. Brown poured in 3 three-pointers and a shot off the glass to ignite the rally in a red-hot-and-blue offensive display as Hunsaker chipped in, pushing the Blues to an 11-point lead, at 21-10, with 2:00 remaining in the first quarter.
Johnson, pressed relentlessly by Moore, did not score until he hit a free throw with only 13 seconds to go in the opening stanza. He broke loose in a physical second half, however, with an inside effort that helped to keep Richlands close as Tazewell finally began to push its pedals in the late stages.
“I am very proud of the effort from my team tonight,” noted Richlands first-year coach Jody Fuller. “We played better than we have the past three games. I don’t think we lost this one, as much as I credit Tazewell for coming back and winning it. Everybody got their moneys’ worth tonight.”
John Walker, normally Mr. Outside for the Dogs, surprised the Blues in the second stanza with an aggressive inside effort at both ends of the floor, which proved to be a key ingredient in the Tazewell comeback.
The Bulldogs scored 52 second half points and grabbed the hard-fought triumph.
“We just couldn’t lose to Richlands again,” said Walker. “We knew if the game went their way, our season was over. We had to win.”
After the break, Noah Walker had a five-minute run in which he brought the crowd to its feet with a slam dunk, blocked a shot by Johnson, and then scored at the other end as the Bulldogs finally broke down the door that had been shut much of the evening. Walker, a sophomore, blocked seven shots and pulled in a staggering 17 rebounds in a yeoman effort for THS.
“Some games we play a good first half – tonight we had a good second half,” he said. “This was a big night to have a good finish.”
Tazewell rang up 30 points in the third stanza, with Colin Hancock’s top-of-the-key trey finally tying the score at 44-all before Hash slipped in through to push the Dogs into the lead 46-44 with 3:45 left.
John Walker, again going inside, hammered one off the glass from the lane before the Blues’ A. J. Johnson powered inside to cut the lead back to two points. Then Noah Walker blocked a big shot, went down and scored and Tazewell regained the momentum.
Brown then stepped up again for the Tornado, popping in five consecutive points to tie the contest at 59-59 with 6:06 to play.
“I tried as hard as I could to get open, score, and keep our offense rolling,” said Brown, who fired through an impressive 7 three-pointers.
“I wanted to draw their (Tazewell’s) defense out and either get a shot or find one of my teammates open inside. Playing Tazewell was kind of like being at practice. We have played each other four times and we know each other like we are all teammates.”
Hunsaker pulled the Blue Tornado to within a single point, at 61-60, at the 5:20 mark as Richlands refused to fold but the resilient Bulldogs would not go away.
Jalen Jordan, John Walker, and Hash scored inside and outside, while Devon Johnson valiantly tried to keep Richlands in contention in the
“Oh, man, does this (win) feel good,” smiled Jordan. “We played awful early in the game and then Ben Brown put on a shooting clinic. There was some real physical defense out there from guys like Mikal and Ryan (Hankins) and we needed all of it.”
Hash’s bucket with :44 left proved to be the game winner and Jordan closed the account with four crucial free throws.
“Good players adjust their games when something is not working,” grinned Hash, who simply moved to the baseline and worked his way inside after the long shots did not always fall. “Both teams played good defense at times tonight but we played decent defense in the last few minutes and that made the difference. This was especially fun to win at Richlands and move on in the tournament,” he added.
Bulldog coach Lee Walker said, “I didn’t let the situation rattle me and at halftime we challenged the players to step it up. We had to take the ball to the hold, go down low, and play hard. Nothing fancy – just hard work and determination. I am happy with the way the guys responded down the stretch.”
Hankins had seven rebounds and so did John Walker for the Bulldogs, while Moore led Tazewell with four assists.
“I just tried to deny Devon the ball inside,” noted Moore. “My job was to keep him away from the ball. We knew he could beat us if we let him. We did not want that to happen again.”

at Richlands Middle School
TAZEWELL (12-12)
Christian Lewis 0 0-0 0, Blake Hash 8 2-3 20, Colin Hancock 3 0-0 8, Ryan Hankins 2 2-4 6, Noah Walker 7 0-3 14, Mikal Moore 0 0-0 0, John Walker 7 2-3 18, Jalen Jordan 4 7-9 15. Totals 31 13-22 74.
RICHLANDS (10-14)
Devon Johnson 9 3-5 21, A.J. Johnson 1 1-2 3, Eric Harris 2 2-2 6, Ben Brown 10 3-4 30, Zach Johnson 0 0-0 0, Gabe Hunsaker 5 3-8 14. Totals 27 12-21 74
Tazewell................................16 13 30 22 — 81
Richlands.............................21 16 22 20 — 74
Three-point goals: TZ 6 (Hash 2, Hancock 2, J. Walker 2); RL 8 (Brown 1, Hunsaker 1). Fouled out: none.